is it cold in here or is that just me
by coldfusion9797
Summary: When Steve finally finds Bucky, their reunion is a little more fiery than he expects. Set post-Winter Soldier. Bucky/Johnny


**AN: Finally got around to watching Rise of the Silver Surfer, I'm only nine years late to the party. Anyway, it will never stop being amusing that Chris Evans plays Johnny Storm and this idea popped into my head so I wrote it down because I thought it might be kinda funny. Enjoy :)**

When Steve finally finds Bucky it's not because he's looking. Well, not exactly. He's wandering around their old neighbourhood in Brooklyn, thinking about the past, wondering where Bucky could have gone, reminiscing over the things that are the same and lamenting the things that aren't, when he spots Bucky walking purposefully along the street. And he'd say he was on a mission, except for the dopey grin on his face and the fire extinguisher tucked under his arm.

Instead of approaching him, Steve decides to follow for a bit. For a couple of reasons. One, he doesn't wanna spook him, two, he can't be sure of Bucky's current allegiances and three, he's just plain curious. Bucky has obvious intent and Steve has to know what that is.

Despite the fact that Bucky is a highly-trained assassin and has managed to fly under the radar for the better part of a year, possibly in New York the whole time, Steve manages to tail him to an apartment. It's a few streets over from their old place, but it's more like their old building than the new ones that have replaced it.

From a safe distance away, Steve watches as Bucky unlocks the door, glances over his shoulder and goes inside.

Curiosity burns through him at the sight of the closed door. He has to know what Bucky's doing and how much he remembers. He obviously has part of himself back if he's chosen to live here of all places, it can't be a coincidence. But then if he knows enough to come home to Brooklyn, why wouldn't he know that he can trust Steve? That they are best friends.

Steve crosses the street and stands right outside the door, staring at the chipped paint and wondering if he should just lift his hand and knock.

He should he decides, he has faith in their friendship, that it can overcome any obstacle.

He's poised to bring his knuckles down on the wood, when he hears the sounds of a struggle coming from inside and suddenly nothing matters but getting to Bucky as fast as he can to help.

He smashes the door down and bursts into the apartment, scanning immediately for the treat. His eyes land on two people tangled together, one is Bucky, the other is not, so he grabs the attacker and throws him across the room, hearing him hit the wall with a satisfying thud.

Bucky looks up at him with wide, startled eyes.

"Steve?" he gasps.

"Flame on!"

"Shit," Bucky scrambles but Steve doesn't have time to answer, not until he's sure the threat has been neutralised. He whirls around, putting himself between Bucky and the danger, to find he's face to face with a ball of flames.

It explains the fire extinguisher, Bucky must've known someone was after him.

Steve grabs it now, pulls the pin and starts extinguishing. The fireball doesn't like that much. He starts shooting balls of fire at Steve, making Steve wish he had his shield with him.

"Bucky! Get down!" Steve yells, managing to dodge the flaming projectiles, so they fly past him and explode against the wall behind him.

He's about to turn and check that Bucky's okay, when Bucky throws himself into the middle of the fight.

"Stop! Now! Both of you!" Bucky angrily commands, holding his arms out to stay both Steve and the other guy.

Steve is so astonished he lets go of the trigger, the fog fizzling out, and the fireball does simmer down.

"Jesus Christ Johnny!" Bucky snaps, snatching the extinguisher from Steve. "You'll burn the whole damn place down!" Steve watches dumbly as Bucky goes about putting out the spot fires in his kitchen.

"He started it," the guy, Johnny, complains from behind Steve.

"What the hell, Steve?" Bucky demands. "Why'd you have to go and break my goddamned door down?"

"Actually, hon," Johnny pipes up, "I think that's the least of your worries."

Admittedly the kitchen is totalled. Bucky glances around the charred remains and chucks the extinguisher on the ground in a huff.

"Don't you know how to knock like a normal person?" he demands, blue eyes ablaze.

"Sorry?" Steve offers, totally lost at this point. He's pretty sure this guy just called Bucky hon. But if that's the case and they weren't fighting... Oh. Steve hopes Bucky writes off the colour that rises in his cheeks as a symptom of the recent raise in the temperature, not his actual embarrassment.

"Forget it. What are you doing here anyway?"

Would it kill Bucky to be a little more grateful? He did just attempt to save his life, even if it was unnecessary in hindsight. Okay, his annoyance is probably fair enough, but still, Steve's intentions were honourable.

"I've been looking for you for a year. I thought you were in trouble."

"I wasn't. At least not until you showed up. Look at my kitchen." Bucky waves his metal arm in the general direction of the destruction. Steve wants to argue that he wasn't the one shooting fireballs but decides to refrain because it would be counterproductive at the moment. Bucky seems pretty pissed off.

"Guess we'll be eating out for a while, huh?" Johnny observes. The guy sounds way too much like Tony for Steve's liking. He rounds on him, to tell him to butt out, because seriously? Can't he see they are in the middle of a decades-in-the-making reunion, when he stops dead.

If Steve's head was spinning before, it might actually explode now. The fireball, Johnny, looks just like him. Where does he even begin with that? Has Bucky completely lost the plot? Or maybe he's trying to recreate the old one, with a bit of artistic licence...

"Steve," Bucky says, forcing himself to calm down, "this is Johnny. He's on the same side as you. Okay?"

Steve doubts that. Where'd Bucky find this guy anyway?

"Why don't I know you?" Steve questions. Someone with Johnny's abilities should be on his radar.

"I was off the whole superhero scene before you came along. Or back. Or whatever. But I swear if you ever try to CO2 me again, I'll make an explosive comeback."

"Alright Johnny, cool it. Steve's just a little over enthusiastic when it comes to protecting me."

"So you're on his side?" Johnny pouts. "I knew it!"

"Come on Johnny, I didn't say that." Bucky goes to Johnny, taking his face, the one that looks just like Steve's, in his hands and presses their foreheads together.

"I love _you_. You know that."

Then they kiss and it's kinda like watching yourself in a dream, only you never dreamed this, but obviously your best friend did and Steve's left wondering how on earth you can you know someone so completely and apparently not at all.

"Bucky?" he frowns, "are you gay?"

Bucky and Johnny grin at each other before turning to Steve.

"That would be a yes. What gave it away?"

"Is he ever..." Johnny adds, hands sliding down to squeeze Bucky's arse. Okay, Steve's seen enough.

"Alright, I get the picture."

"Good," Johnny says with more seriousness in his tone. Pointedly not removing his arm from around Bucky's waist.

"I'm not gay," Steve hurriedly says, mainly to clarify things for Johnny. Of all the things he thought the day might bring when he woke up this morning, having to reassure Bucky's boyfriend that he wasn't here to make a move on his old pal, sure wasn't one of them.

"I'm well aware of that Steve," Bucky drawls.

"I wasn't... I mean... Oh boy." Really, what the hell was going on here? He was never going to not knock on another door again. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Steve appeals.

"I'm fine," Bucky states. It sounds like an ending, but it can't be. Not again.

"I promise I'm not here to cause trouble. I just miss you, Buck. That's all. I want us to be friends again. I want you to be happy."

"I am. And I'll have to think about the friend thing. A lot's happened..."

Steve is flabbergasted.

"What's there to think about? We've always been best friends. It's just how we are."

"Things change."

"I don't care that you're gay. Honestly. Just don't leave me again." Steve is bordering on desperate now but he doesn't care, he has to fix this, whatever it is, but solutions are hard to find when you don't even know what the problem is. One thing is clear though, Bucky still needs time. Steve doesn't want to push. Last time he did that he ended up shot and sinking towards the bottom of the Potomac.

"Look, I'm staying at the Avengers Tower. Come see me there. Please? Both of you?"

Bucky and Johnny share a glance, some unspoken message passing between them. One that Steve isn't privy to. Then Bucky pulls a phone from his pocket and hands it to Steve.

"Alright, give me your number."

Steve can't help the grin that lights up his face as he punches it in.

"This isn't a promise," Bucky warns.

"I appreciate that," Steve allows, because as much as Bucky is pretending to fight this, deep down Steve knows they still have a long way to go until they reach the end of the line.

 **AN: There could be a second part to this, I haven't decided yet. Thanks for reading :)**


End file.
